Son of the Sky God
by theforgetfulalchemist
Summary: As the son of the sea god grew up in the east, the son of the sky god grew up in the west. A drabble on Jason's life in the legion before the events of The Lost Hero.
1. Chapter 1

Jason smacked his lips and yawned, resting his head on his mother's shoulder sleepily as she carried him from the car deeper into the forest.

He vaguely wondered why Sissy wasn't coming with them, but at the moment he was too preoccupied with his nap to think about it.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" He thought he heard his mother sob as he drifted off to sleep. "You have to be her sacrifice. It's the only way. I'm sorry."

He dreamt of a storm, low and rumbling, covering the entire sky above a vast plain with gray clouds.

Thunder never scared him. Neither did lightning. He passed a gentle sleep with both roaring in his head, content and cradled in his mother's arms.

Once, he thought he saw the figure of a man with black hair and a beard smiling wistfully down at him from the storm clouds.

When he slowly opened his eyes at last, he was no longer with his mother. He was in a patch of grass in the courtyard of a mansion's ruins as the sun was setting.

He sat up.

"Mommy!" He cried.

He scampered around yelling for her. He began to weep.

_Now, now, pup. That will do._

Jason hiccuped and turned to see a giant red wolf, like The Big Bad Wolf, only this one was female and though he didn't know how he knew it, far more ancient.

He thought it must be The Big Bad Wolf's grandmother.

That thought made him laugh.

The wolf looked him over quizzically.

_You do not fear me, young one?_ She seemed to say.

"No." Jason said aloud.

_That is good. It is better to die bravely and with honor than to live a coward._

He toddled up to her and tentatively stroked her fur. The wolf relaxed and her ears folded back.

"Where is my mommy?" He asked her.

_Alas, young one, I fear your mother has forsaken you._

He didn't know what forsaken meant but he did know one thing.

"I won't see Mommy again?"

_No, my little pup. Never again in this world. _

Tears welled up in him, but he remembered the wolf didn't want him to cry. He took a deep breath and managed not to bawl. Only a few tears streamed down his face as he desperately held them in.

The wolf nudged him gently.

_You show great promise, pup. _

She hesitated.

_Wait here._

She bounded into the forest. Jason sat by an empty pool for what felt like hours before she returned with a dead rabbit between her bloody teeth.

He almost threw up, but the wolf said

_Come here, pup. I will teach you how to cook your food. Soon you will be able to hunt it as well._

He nearly burned himself several times but the wolf instructed him in how to collect firewood, make a fire and keep it going while roasting the meat. It was pitch dark when it was done and Jason devoured it ravenously.

Over the next few days, the wolf took care of him. She brought him meat that he cooked himself. Eventually he was hunting small game. She also wrestled with him. He thought it was playing, but she gave him tips like it was a lesson.

She told him her name was Lupa and that his father was someone called Jupiter, who was a god.

He had heard of God. He wondered if his father was anything like that. He wondered if he was the man he saw in his dream. He didn't really understand.

After weeks of gaining cuts and bruises in wrestling, growing bulky on nothing but red meat, and being bored out of his skull during lectures about the gods, Lupa told him they were going south.

She made him walk most of the way.

Sometimes she carried him in her maw like he was a real wolf pup.

Sometime she would sneak him onto trains or buses. Nobody seemed to see a wolf place a toddler on them. More strangely, they never noticed Jason as he sat there, never asked where his parents were or what he was doing there alone.

When he looked out the window, he always saw Lupa running as a dark grey blur.

Soon they crossed into a large city he didn't recognize. Lupa scooped him up in her mouth and slinked through the trees in the outskirts until they came to a tunnel. She guided him through it but on the other side, instead of the rest of the highway, there was another city with big white buildings and columns. There were buildings off to one side next to a river closed off by a fence.

There was a crowd when they arrived. Everyone stared and whispered. Some bowed to Lupa. Some looked nostalgic to see the wolf.

Then they all began to murmur.

Jason looked up at where they were gazing.

There was a golden haze in the shape of a lightning bolt above his head. He thought that was pretty cool, though he didn't know where it came from.

One by one, they all bowed on one knee.

_This is Jason Grace, son of Jupiter. _Lupa informed them. _He has trained with me and now I must leave him in your hands to rise as a great leader or fail his father's expectations, as Fate would have it._

And then Lupa was gone.

He felt ashamed for it because Lupa thought it was weakness, but he cried. He had lost his mother again.

He listened to the grown-ups argue as an older woman picked him up and gently shushed him (only later would he realize most had actually been teens).

"…sends us a baby…"

"Can't be over, what? _Three_?"

"Where's his mother?"

A tall boy in a purple cape roared "Silence!"

After he got his wish, he continued "Lord Jupiter has blessed us by giving his son to the legion. If it is the will of the Almighty gods, then we will take this child in. Considering the circumstances, I propose we make him an honorary full member of the legion now and let him officially join a cohort when he is of age. All in favor?"

Several people raised their hands.

"It is passed." The boy declared. He strode over to Jason, still in the woman's arms.

"We accept Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, into the Twelfth Legion Fulminata."

He didn't understand what all that meant but he did understand his arm hurt badly.

He whimpered and the older woman held his hand as the pain careened down his arm like a lightning bolt.

When it was over, he had a line drawn on his arm over the outline of a bird. He knew by instinct it was an eagle.

The boy ruffled his hair and smiled.

"Obey the rules, serve Rome and bring glory to the legion. Senatus Populusque Romanus."

"Senatus Populusque Romanus." The crowd chanted.

"Senatus Populusque Romanus." Jason copied in a garbled, three year old way. He could translate the words for some reason as the Senate and the People of Rome. He had no clue what those words meant in English.

They put him to sleep in the bottom bunk bed in a dorm building within the fence, the first of many cohorts he would be passed around, until he would settle on the Fifth.

That night he dreamt of storms.

_A/N: I just think it's interesting Jason grew up and had his own adventures right at the same time Percy was, so I wanted to write something on it. Right now, I think it will be a three part drabble series._

_Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it and please tell me what you think!_


	2. Chapter 2

Reyna trudged down the streets of New Rome in her new purple SPQR T-shirt miserably.

She had parted from Hylla just that morning. She went as far as the Caldecott Tunnel then left Reyna to fend for herself. Hylla claimed she was too old to be accepted in the camp and would try her luck in a mortal city. Maybe Seattle.

Almost as bad, she had gotten her first prophecy from the camp augur.

He had said she could join the Twelfth Legion. That wasn't the bad part.

He also said she would rise to power more quickly than about anyone, maybe becoming a centurion or praetor.

That wasn't the bad part.

The bad part was his prediction that as soon as she did, one of the darkest periods in Demigod history would follow, she would have to fight alone to save their camp, and that she would have to harden her heart to betrayals she didn't understand to do so.

That was a cheerful way to start her new life.

She was missing her home on Circe's island and cursing that boy and girl who destroyed it, even if she did admire the girl's bravery, when someone shouted behind her.

It was a tall boy her age with blond hair. He wore a faded legion shirt, like he had been wearing the same one for years. There was a plain brown band-aid on his nose. He was carrying a gold sword that made his arm muscles flex as he held it and flashed her a big white-toothed smile. His piecing blue eyes sparkled.

In other words, he was cute.

"Did the augur accept you?" He asked eagerly.

"Um, yeah, he did." She answered in a small voice, blushing.

The boy grinned and bounced in the air, cheering.

After a few woops, he seemed to realize his conduct was not appropriate for a Roman soldier. He froze, staring at her, mortified.

He coughed and blushed almost as deeply as her.

"Um…sorry." He said. "It's only that I heard from some of the older kids you were a daughter of Bellona, and"

He shuffled awkwardly.

"my cohort, the Fifth, could use someone like that."

"Why would you need me?" She asked. Sure she beat the pirates and got here from the Sea of Monsters, but Hylla had done most of the work.

The boy's eyes gleamed intensely.

"We get treated like a joke. It's always 'the Fifth ruins everything' or 'send the Fifth into enemy ranks, they don't matter'. Stuff like that. I'm going to change all that. After all, it's only because…"

He shook his head and smiled.

"But it's not important. My name's Jason, by the way. Jason Grace."

"My name's Reyna."

She was _not_ going to tell him her last name and get laughed at.

"Want me to show you around, Reyna?"

He grabbed her hand and led her through the streets of New Rome, pointing out different buildings and explaining things about the Legion. He said good morning and joked around with almost everyone in town. He must have been at camp a long time, to be so familiar with the place.

She knew after a year of service, you get a tattoo with a line for every year.

She glanced at his arm where she could see his. She counted nine lines.

Maybe his parents were from the city, she thought.

They stopped at a café and he ordered hot chocolate.

"Oh no." The cashier said sternly. "No more caffeine and sugar for you today, young man."

"Oh come on! It's for the new kid!" He insisted.

The clerk sighed in resignation and gave him a Styrofoam cup with the hot black drink and made sure Jason gave it to Reyna. As she sipped it, she felt her sadness, her anger, her homesickness, her loneliness without her sister, melt. She had a new home. A new beginning. A place she might succeed in. And she had a new friend.

Jason beamed at her.

"Well, that's about it for the grand tour. Welcome to New Rome."

She smiled into her cup. But even the scalding beverage wasn't enough to stop her blood from chilling.

_You must harden yourself to betrayals you will not understand. _

So far, Jason was her only friend. Was it possible he would betray her somehow?

Looking into his honest, clear eyes, she couldn't imagine it.

Jason cocked his head.

"What's wrong, Reyna?" He asked.

"Nothing. It's nothing."

He continued to smile at her as she finished her drink.

She decided no matter what happened between them in the future, for now, he was her new best friend.

_A/N: Just to clarify, I know Jason didn't betray Reyna at all. In fact, he was more loyal to her than he even had to be-he made absolutely sure the two of them weren't together before dating Piper. All the prophecy meant was that to Reyna it would __**feel **__like a betrayal, especially with Jason's new friends seemingly attacking the camp._ _Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please tell me what you think!_


	3. Chapter 3

The overhead light flickered dimly in the praetor's office as Jason yawned, piercing the silence of the cavernous room.

He turned to the dark haired girl beside him.

"I'm calling it a day. Night, Reyna."

"Mm," Reyna acknowledged placidly, continuing to shuffle her papers busily.

"Aren't you coming?" Jason wondered.

"I'll catch up."

"Reyna, it's after midnight."

"I'll catch up."

Jason shrugged. "Okay, then."

As he turned to leave, Reyna looked up and caught his eyes. Her jet black eyes swam with an emotion Jason couldn't pinpoint...hope?

"Would..." Reyna cleared her throat. "We have furlough tomorrow...would...would you like to get some hot chocolate together?"

Reyna's eyes sparkled forlornly as if she already knew the answer .

Guiltily, Jason thought of a long ago day when he offered a lost new girl comforting chocolate and said

"Um...I'd love to...but I have...paperwork. That needs done. Soon."

His face reddened with shame and he didn't miss a second getting out of there once Reyna gave him a curt nod.

He sighed in the cold night air, zipping up his windbreaker.

He knew he should tell Reyna the truth. It wasn't right to get her hopes up. But it was so hard to let down such a good friend. And she had lost so much already. How could he bring himself to do that to her?

He looked bitterly at his forearm where hidden under his jacket lay his legion marks.

Like everything in his life, Reyna was a duty, a part he had to play.

He rubbed his arm in the chill, thinking Reyna wouldn't like him if she knew what he was really like.

If she knew he resented the mark on his arm he should be proud of...that he didn't want the leadership the legion thrusted upon him... or being treated like a hero just because of his dad, never for his own merits.

The familiar surge of guilt overcame him. It was his personal shame to bear that he secretly wanted to be anywhere but at camp. That he wanted his own life, to live it the way he wanted.

"Like that'll happen," he muttered to himself, crossing the street. "You're stuck with this place forever, Grace. Get used to it."

_Don't be so sure, my champion._

Jason swung around, his sword ready.

Standing in front of him was a tall, middle aged woman with a goatskin cloak, smiling at him.

Jason's eyes widened. "Ju...?"

But Juno was already raising her hand and Jason fell into unconsciousness...

…And woke up on a bus, a girl holding his hand.

_A/N: I've been gone a while, huh? I got some requests to continue this and I've been meaning to so here it is! I feel_ like it's a good time to do so, what with the resolution to his character arc in BOO.

Thank you for reading/reviewing/ect.!


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